Hit the lights
by Glitterprincess2015
Summary: He had missed his chance, and now he was kicking himself for it. Who was he kidding? He would never stand a chance with her, so long as he was he and she was she.


A/N: Pandora shuffle does wonders for inspiration

He should've stopped her, told her how much he cared about her. It's silly of course, she had been a tribute and he the one who held her fate in his hands. But she had captured his attention and favor since she volunteered for her sister. Her cold determination made him admire her even more, mase it possible for him to sit through every kiss she shared with the Mellark boy. People would think him crazy if he went to a random victor and told them how deeply attached he had gotten just by watching her every struggle to stay alive. Offer his shoulder to cry on as she mourned the loss of her counterpart.

He sighed and looked around the darkened game room. It was a bit too late to be thinking about that now. It had been well over a year since the last time she had been here. And now she would be too busy getting her own tribute ready to be offered on a silver platter. A small smile made it's way to his lips at the thought of her returning to him, but she wasn't. She would never return to him, she would be disgusted by him and what he stood for.

"Do you plan on drowning your sorrows the rest of your life?" He squinted his bloodshot eyes and looked at the form in the doorway and sighed. Of course he would be here, he had been her mentor, and basically taken over the father role in her life.

"You're not even supposed to be here Haymitch." He slurred drunkly and took another large gulp from his bottle.

"Sweetness couldn't handle coming back on her own." This caught his attention, the girl was too scared to be here by herself? The Capitol where so many adored her and would do anything for her.

"Pity you had to join her." His voice icy and he stood swaying and walked to his table.

"Why are you so fixated on her?" Haymitch asked walking up to him.

"What's not to be fizated on? She's so different, and…good." Her whole persona was that of a pure heart and soul and he knew his own would only blacken that.

"She absolutely hates you, you know." Haymitch muttered and I wondered is he actually thought she wasn't.

"That's supposed to surprise me?" He asked taking a seat and rubbing a hand over his tired eyes.

"What's surprising is that you broke her the way you did." He turned and could see the hate for him burning in his beloved mentor's eyes.

"She's unbreakable, nothing fazed her." He said as more of a way to convince himself Haymitch was lying.

"Katniss can't sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time. When she does she searches blindly for the children she couldn't save." He hadn't meant to break her, he was just doing what he was supposed to. And unsurprisingly had done it too well.

"I didn't mean to break her." He whispered and he stared into the darkness not wanting to meet the other man's face,

"It's just what you do." Came his gruff reply.

"How is she? Aside from the nightmares." He needed to know, just to put his mind at ease.

"Married, to her friend from the woods." That shouldn't have really been new news to him. He had heard everyone talking about the victor's boyfriend.

"So I had heard." He answered numbly and for the thousandth time that day he kicked himself.

"You need to stop obsessing over her, it's not healthy Crane." And he admitted grudgingly that Haymitch had a point.

"I know." It seemed the older man didn't have anything else to say so he stood and wished the gamemaker a good night.

He had let his chance slip, even though he had no chance. He needed to stop this but yet couldn't find it in him to. She had flown away and he hadn't the chance to say how dearly he held her. Even if it was through the glimpse of her through a screen. He started to feel the effects of his sudden and heavy drinking, and a slight smile made its way to his face. Maybe tonight he would be able to sleep without being tormented by his seat angel from district 12.

A/N: Wow this did not go the way I planned. Originally she was going to come back and they were going to be together. Then this happened.


End file.
